Eating, Drinking and Recreating Street Food From Around the World

Radishes and Carrots

Piles of white radishes and garnet-colored carrots, simply adorned with typical Indian flavors, are the simplest of Indian street food and offer a refreshing antidote for a humid summer day. But these basic treats are potentially the most hazardous, as vendors sometimes clean their wears with polluted water, which can cause catastrophic stomach upsets.

Radishes and Carrots

Only frequent a vendor whose carrots and radishes are not yet peeled. (The vendor in these photos had already peeled her veggies but I wanted to take these photos as her sari was a majestically colored contrast to her wears and the Deli cityscape.) Use your bottled water to wash the vegetables and rinse the vendor’s knife before peeling–most vendors expect this request from foreign visitors. Then watch hungrily as the vendor slices open your root veggie of choice and sprinkles on a mixture of roasted crushed cumin and salt. A slice of lime, expertly squeezed on top, completes this snack.